IND vs SL | We missed our main bowler Isuru Udana, feels Lasith Malinga
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Lasith Malinga revealed that the team missed the services of the injured Isuru Udana throughout the second T20I against India, in Indore. Sri Lankan batsmen could only manage to score 142 in the first innings and their bowlers couldn't do much in defending the target, as India took away the cake.
Sri Lankan skipper Lasith Malinga accepted that Sri Lanka were way short of the kind of target that they would have liked to set India. The openers gave a decent start but then they lost too many wickets in the middle overs for their liking and were able to post only 142 on the board. Needing to defend they needed early wickets but one of their main bowlers Isuru Udana got injured in the field which Malinga believed was a big blow to their hopes of defending the target.
"He's (Udana) our main bowler and is very experienced in this format. He got injured just before we went out to bowl. He's recovering now," Malinga said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Malinga realized that on a small ground like the one in Indore, making India bat till the 18th over to chase down 142 was a commendable effort by the bowlers and he gave the due credit to them.
"We were around 25-30 runs short. We tried to bowl consistent lines and lengths. The bowlers did well to drag the match till the 18th over," Malinga asserted.
With the likes of Angelo Mathews on the bench, questions were raised on Sri Lanka's team selection. But Malinga believed that with the T20 World Cup less than a year away, it was important to try out their bench strength in order to get a fair idea of who will make the cut.
"We need to give opportunities to the youngsters," he said.
